Why We Need To Tap Into Our Breath

Deep breathing is a strong tool all of us have within us. Here's why it's important to learn how to do it right.

Did you know that we take more than eight million breaths per year? Did you also know how important breathing the right way is for our wellbeing? Deep breathing is a relaxation technique that may help reduce stress and anxiety.

Yoga Acharya Dina Khimasia, the expert conducting the Silver Talkies' weekly Yoga classes, says shares the importance of deep breathing with us:

• Deep breathing or diaphragmatic breathing is a practice that lets more air enter your body. This results in calming your nerves and reducing stress and anxiety. Deep breathing could help with many good things, such as reducing our anxiety, depression, stress management and improved focus.

• As we grow older, sleep is often elusive. Instead of medication, why not try this? Deep breathing exercises can help you sleep better. It leads to a calmer nervous system and more production of melatonin, the hormone that regulates sleep-wake cycles.

• When you breathe deeply, your body releases endorphins. These are feel-good hormones and the body's natural pain killer. Deep breathing activates the vagus nerve. This is the nerve that oversees your mood, digestion and heart rate.

• Deep breathing can also send more oxygen to your brain and other organs. Better functioning vital organs mean a more robust immune system. So it's good for your immunity too!

• As we all know, if you are anxious, deep breathing can help. Try it out now. Could you take a good deep breath and let it out? If you did it right, you are feeling a bit lighter. Deep breathing slows your heart rate and signals the brain to wind down. It also balances your hormones, thus lowering the cortisol levels and increasing the endorphin rush in the body.

• Did you ever think that deep breathing is good for your posture? Deep breathing can rearrange tension patterns of the spine and improve posture. Regular practice of deep breathing allows you to maintain good posture for several minutes as you strengthen underused neck, shoulders, and back muscles.

• Deep breathing helps to detoxify the body. Our bodies release 70 per cent of toxins through breathing. For example, carbon dioxide is natural toxic waste from the body's metabolic processes. It is transferred from the blood to our lungs and expelled through our breath. However, with shallow breathing, the body has to work harder to remove this waste. Here's where deep breathing helps.

• Deep breathing can lead to better digestion by supplying more oxygen to our digestive system. In addition, the increased blood flow due to deep breathing encourages intestinal action and improves your overall digestion.

• You would have noticed the change in your breath when angry. Your breathing becomes shallow. It results in the body not getting the oxygen it requires. Long deep breathing reverses this process, allowing you to become calmer.

How to breathe:

Focus on breathing from your stomach. Push your stomach out each time you inhale. Take longer breaths and count to at least three breaths for each inhalation and exhalation. It may feel uncomfortable at first but keep going. Slowly, you will start to notice your body feeling more relaxed. Deep breathing may sound very simple, but it isn't easy and requires consistent practice.

"Mastering breathing the right way is very difficult," says Dina. However, with regular practice, you can get there. "It is said in Yoga that when the breath wanders, the mind is unsteady, and when the breath is still, so is the mind."

It's time to focus on the tool we all have within us: Our breath.

Do you practice deep breathing? Let us know how it has helped you in the comments below.